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New CTA International Ranking Lists 16 Countries Leading in Innovation Friendliness

8Jan2019

LAS VEGAS

During the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) State of the Industry
Address at CES® 2019, CTA announced 16 out of 61 countries are leading
the world in having the best environment for innovation according to
its new 2019
International Innovation Scorecard. This year’s Innovation Champions
are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Israel,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

During the CTA keynote, the Netherlands’ State Secretary for Economic
Affairs and Climate Policy Mona Keijzer, the U.K.’s Secretary of State
for International Trade Dr. Liam Fox and Estonia’s Minister of Education
and Research Mailis Reps joined Gary Shapiro, president and CEO,
CTA, onstage to accept the Innovation Champion awards on behalf of their
countries.

“These countries are world-class leaders in growing innovation,” said
Shapiro. “When it comes to technology and policy, they value disruptive
innovators. To be leaders in innovation, nations must drop protectionist
rules and end barriers that limit them from creating the next great
startups that will change the world for the better.”

The new Innovation Champions include first-time honorees Germany and
Israel. Germany climbed into the highest tier thanks to improved new
business growth and widespread access to telecommunications and online
services. In Israel, over half (51.5 percent) of its workforce is
employed in high-skilled jobs, almost half (46.8 percent) of its college
students earn degrees in STEM fields — second only to Singapore – and
4.3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) goes toward research and
development (R&D), more than any other country on the Scorecard.

Overall, Innovation Champions typically outperform other countries in
measures of Freedom, Broadband, Entrepreneurial Activity, Resiliency – a
new category to quantify the degree to which a country’s government
and society are sustainable – and Self-Driving Vehicles.

Meanwhile, three former Innovation Champions dropped in the 2019
rankings. Austria’s top individual tax rate of 55 percent, the Czech
Republic’s 15 percent year-over-year decline in R&D investment and
Portugal’s decision to pressure short-term rental websites to share
their data with the government moved them down to Innovation Leaders
this year.

Other 2019 trends include:

Small countries tend to lead in R&D investment. Israel and South Korea
spent the most of their GDP on R&D, with more than four percent,
followed by Switzerland (3.4 percent), Sweden (3.3 percent) and
Austria (3.1 percent).

On each continent, the countries with average download speeds above 18
mbps also ranked highly overall.

Eight of the 10 most resilient countries — graded on criteria
including the visibility of supply chains and strength of digital and
physical infrastructure — are European.

None of the 38 returning countries saw its Self-Driving Vehicles grade
drop. In fact, many have further encouraged self-driving vehicle
development by deploying self-driving public transit vehicles or
preparing to build international test tracks. Year-over-year, we have
seen more countries adopt laws allowing SDV testing.

The U.S. and China dominate in unicorns – domestic startups valued at
USD 1 billion or more – created in the past decade, per 10 million
people in population. The U.S. leads with 133, China has 120 and the
third-ranked U.K. has 12.

The 2019 International Innovation Scorecard includes an additional 23
countries, for a total of 61 countries and the European Union. The
International Innovation Scorecard is a comparative analysis across 14
different categories including average broadband speeds, sharing economy
policies, adoption of self-driving vehicles, drone regulations and the
ability of a country to withstand and recover from disasters. For more
information visit www.internationalscorecard.com.

About CES:

CES® is the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business
of consumer technologies. It has served as the proving ground for
innovators and breakthrough technologies for 50 years-the global stage
where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace. As
the largest hands-on event of its kind, CES features all aspects of the
industry. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM,
it attracts the world's business leaders and pioneering thinkers. Check
out CES
video highlights. Follow CES online at CES.tech
and on social.

About Consumer Technology Association:

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™ is the trade association
representing the $398 billion U.S. consumer technology industry, which
supports more than 15 million U.S. jobs. More than 2,200 companies – 80
percent are small businesses and startups; others are among the world’s
best-known brands – enjoy the benefits of CTA membership including
policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry
promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and
strategic relationships. CTA also owns and produces CES® –
the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of
consumer technologies. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA’s
industry services.

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